I have just returned from a four-day visit to Myanmar and I am most intrigued by the statement by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad saying he did not know why I hated him so much.

Let me assure Mahathir that I do not hate him at all but like three former Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein and Tun Abdullah and the majority of Malaysians in 2012, I am opposed to Mahathirism and its return to Malaysian politics in 13th general election.

Mahathir cannot be more wrong when he claimed that Abdullah was rejected by voters for “mistreating” him, asserting:

“Last time when Abdullah wasn’t good to me, the people did not support BN. So some people still have some sympathy for me.”

The reason why Abdullah suffered the worst UMNO/BN electoral defeat in the 2008 general election is because he failed to live up to his promise in the landslide 2004 general election victory to begin the serious task to dismantle the Mahathirish legacy of corruption, cronyism and abuses of power. Read the rest of this entry »

JULY 7 — How often have you heard this statement? Those who do evil and wicked things in Malaysia seem to prosper but the good-intentioned are jailed, demonised and subject to continuous harassment by the mainstream media and authorities.

Or this line? It is so unfair that the crooked politicians can get away with anything.

These statements are often then followed with a burst of anger and frustration, and a despairing rant about how little we can do to bring the wicked to justice and bring about change in Malaysia.

But there is no reason to despair. I am a Catholic and I also sometimes find myself wallowing in the cycle of “nothing can be done”. Read the rest of this entry »

JULY 5 — In practical sense, the term rent-seeking or rent-seeker or rentier classs, refers to the activity by some people in capturing offices of state and using the power of the state to capture economic benefits.

So, the rentier class consists of the people making use of their official and political positions to capture economic benefits. They get these benefits not by actually providing or actually producing a service or product, but by virtue of holding a political or bureaucratic position.

So what? So the above arrangement leads to disparities in income not due to natural abilities or difference in character. Such arrangement becomes objectionable and unconscionable when the disparities in income do not arise because of abilities or character.

The lazybones and laggards get ahead of the industrious and those more clever because they have found a way to cut corners by earning state positions. And so because of the positions they hold, in the offices of state, political positions and being proximate to the corridors of power allow them to get ahead of others.

Generally speaking, that is why some people are very critical of the New Economic Policy because it allows and perpetrates such “economic arrangements”. Those who get ahead are those having political and bureaucratic powers and their cronies and fronts. Read the rest of this entry »